In the spirit of paying it forward, Brandeis held its eighth Kindness Day on Thursday. Kindness Day was created by a faculty member to encourage any and all acts of kindness and gratitude on campus, and has since become an annual event.

An email from Dean of Students Jamele Adams detailed the diverse programming options occurring for Kindness Day. Events ranged from “Kindness Card Tabling” to making blankets and snack bags for people in need. 

Some Kindness Day activities were meant to have an impact on Brandeis students, while others reached out to the world at large. The day of programming was organized by two co-coordinators and the Kindness Committee, but a variety of other campus organizations held events. Kindness Day isn’t a club or event — Adams called it an “initiative.” 

University students interpreted the kindness initiative in their own ways. Tamar Harrison ’20 explained that she saw it as a “recentering day,” adding that she feels that students can get lost in the stress of exams, and Kindness Day reminds them to love each other. 

To Aviva Davis ’21, kindness is “bringing happiness to other people in a moment where they weren’t expecting it.” Davis said Kindness Day is a reminder to be mindful of small ways in which others are kind to her and to try to do the same. 

Elizabeth Gluckman ’20 believes that people should appreciate the “good in each other,” and sees Kindness Day as a way to express gratitude. 

In the week leading up to Kindness Day, volunteers ran kindness card tables in the Shapiro Campus Center and Upper Usdan. Participants could stop by to fill out postcards, and on Kindness Day volunteers delivered them to the mailboxes of the addressees. Students sent each other birthday cards, heartfelt messages and simple greetings. Ben Green ’21 wrote 18 letters; he explained that he just “loves to love.”

Other kindness programs also began the preceding week. Brandeis Undergraduate Group Study tutors gave out kindness “swag” and snacks during their office hours all week, and on Wednesday night a team of 15 people chalked messages like “Happy Kindness Day” and “Be Kind!” in high-traffic areas around campus. 

Events during Kindness Day itself took place all over campus. In the Usdan Game Room, the Student Services Bureau provided cookies all day. Public Safety held an ice-cream social in the International Lounge, and a lunch for facilities and custodial staff was hosted in Ridgewood Commons. Individual residence quads each held their own Kindness Day events as well, sponsored by the Department of Community Living.

In the Shapiro Campus Center, programs like “Write a Compliment, Get a Compliment,” sponsored by the Brandeis Orthodox Organization, and “Kindness Chain,” sponsored by Student Activities and the Department of Community Service, were meant to spread joy within Brandeis. 

Other programs focused on extending kindness beyond Brandeis. Sponsored by DCS, “Blankets for Cradles to Crayons” saw students tying together fleece squares to create blankets, which were then sent to homeless and low-income children. Green was disappointed that more people didn’t stop there — he said he saw many students pause at the table, see there was no free food, and move on — but added that “a lot of people still participated.” 

“#DearYoungPerson,” run by the Department of Student Rights and Community Standards, was another initiative aimed at the world beyond Brandeis. At the SCC, University students could write letters to young people affected by the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Becky Schwartz ’20 explained that it wasn’t political; it was meant to “[show] that everyone cares” and send love.

At the SCC, students could also package bags of snacks to be donated to the Community Day Center of Waltham, a drop-in shelter. Adams’ email explained that the initiative, sponsored by Sodexo, was meant to support the center in providing a welcoming place both for the homeless and for those who feel “alone and isolated.” 

Kindness Day was a large initiative, with a wide focus. Its events had a common thread, though: “Of course I would find it at Brandeis,” Davis said.